Postmodernity’s Musical Pasts International Conference 2015

The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation at The City University of New York, The Graduate Center announces the international conferencePostmodernity’s Musical Pasts: Rediscoveries and Revivals after 1945
To be held at The City University of New York, The Graduate Center 26-27 March 2015

In the longue durée of music history, rediscovery, recovery, revival, and renewal were central in the creation of repertoires and performance practices. With the end of the Second World War musical dealings with pastness assumed new turns, not only because of the different historicity the postwar era has faced, but also because of the rupture of 1945. We are inviting papers based on new research that address the multi-faceted topics related to rediscoveries and revivals while drawing upon the methodologies of ethnomusicology, historical musicology, music theory, cultural studies, and anthropology. We favor approaches that consider the plurality of musical responses to the postwar era and thus avoid clichés that give way to one-dimensional interpretations of a complex era. We encourage presentations on a variety of topics from the early music revival in the U.S. and Europe to the folk revival movement in the post-Soviet era, from compositions responding to revivalist notions to currents in the discipline of musicology. We hope to inspire broader reflections on the following themes:

· Responses to Modernity
· Memory
· Nostalgia
· Utopia vs. Dystopia

Please submit a title with an abstract of 300 words maximum, and include contact information (address, phone, and e-mail). Proposals may be submitted before May 31, 2014 to:

Tina Frühauf
The Barry S. Brook Center for Music Research and Documentation
The City University of New York, The Graduate Center
365 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10016-4309
TFruhauf at gc.cuny.edu